‘Rahul, it is not competency but opportunity that makes India’s Prime Minister’

India is a democratic nation. So when Rahul Gandhi addressing the group of students in Aligarh Muslim University was asked a very pertinent question by the students of the muslim community as to when can a ‘muslim become the Prime Minister of this country’, his reply really touched our hearts. We try to believe him for what he answered, ‘It is ones competency that makes a Prime Minister in India’ and ‘Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’ is the Prime minister not for which community he belongs to but for his competency and his high acclaimed Curriculum vitae’.

We wish it was true, for this should be the story of the biggest democracy of the world. But had competency that easy a factor, then Sonia Gandhi, the UPA chairperson and the President of the Congress party and of course Rahul’s mother would have had the opportunity to also lead the nation.

I raised the issue to one of my senior fellow journalist. And we discussed that had Rahul faced this question he would have replied in a la politician Rahul’s justification that it was not for competency that Sonia Gandhi did not lead the nation. It was certainly not the origin issue either. It was that ‘she abided by her much publicized inner voice’ that asked her to lead the Congress party of India, the biggest winning coalition ‘United Progressive alliance’ (UPA) but not the country.

Does it not sound far from true? And Rahul would have actually wanted all of us to believe this. But his discomfiture can be understandable when he conceded that there were other factors as well that were somewhat ‘secondary’.

It is true, that Manmohan Singh became the Prime Minister not because he came from the minority community but certainly not because he was the most competent person available then. He became the Prime minister in 2004 only because he suited the first choice of Ms. Sonia Gandhi then and till now. Until he signed the nuclear deal he was termed the weak Prime minister and there is no denial that with due respect to his competency he is still termed as a ‘caretaker PM', guarding the chair for a more deserving dynastic surname.

This does not mean that Rahul’s leadership qualities are being questioned. He does deserve to be the Prime Minister for the kind of leadership and political grooming he is displaying. But certainly India has even more competent candidates waiting for opportunities.

Democracy is the number game. It cannot really be criticized for not abiding by the majority factor. But democracy is also about representation of all. An American democracy made history with ‘Barrack Obama’ representing the 14% minority population of the African Americans leading the nation although he is half white by birth.

Indian democracy has a sixty percent average representation in parliament. That still means that forty percent are neither being heard nor can they say anything. Moreso, no wonder this sixty percent has in places been represented by ‘majority community based cent percent representation’ while the others went on almost ‘cent percent non representation’. Gujrat after the 2002 riots are the best example in this regard where the ruling government was voted to power with the cent percent majority community votes while the rest went without a say. This is the side effect of democracy or better still we can say Indian democracy. Hence no wonder our leaders look for more ‘divisive number game’ by their ‘divide Indian community politics’ funda for their leadership goals.

So. Mr. Gandhi I would definitely want you to believe that it is not just mere competency but also ‘the opportunity and the avenue to be competent’ that paves way to lead India. And those getting the opportunity are far privileged to compete with the ‘competent’ in the nation. And not just competent muslim leader but any one opportune enough shall definitely lead India